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By the time the court granted her permission to address the victim’s family, she could barely speak and passed out into the arms of her defense attorney.

Diane and David J. McClelland appeared before Judge John F. DiSalle for sentencing in their conviction of conspiring to kill 92-year-old Evelyn Stepko, their neighbor.

As Diane McClelland started to speak, her voice could not be heard. Through whispers, the courtroom eventually heard, “I am truly sorry.” Then, an audible gasp before she fainted. Emergency personnel tended to her during a 10-minute court recess.

"I thought it (fainting) was just a show. It was an act. When you’re saying you’re sorry, you look the people in the face, and she was looking down, like where she was going to fall. That to me and to my kids was an act," said Stepko's niece, Dolores Sprowls.

DiSalle sentenced Diane McClelland to 20 to 40 years for the crime of conspiring to commit homicide. In total, with other charges, her sentence is 24 1/2 to 49 years in prison. Before delivering his sentence, DiSalle said, "At no time did she do anything to stop these burglaries. She profited, and she profited handsomely … until today, I saw no evidence of remorse expressed by Ms. McClelland."

David J. McClelland is convicted of second-degree and murder and sentenced to life without parole.

His father, David A. McClelland, was convicted of stabbing Stepko in July 2011. She was found dead in the basement of her home. He is sentenced to life in prison.

During the trail, David J. McClelland claimed that even though he knew his father had stolen thousands of dollars from Stepko over a course of two years, he was not part of a conspiracy that led to her death.

David J. McClelland is a former police officer for Monongahela and Washington Township. He was employed when his father and stepmother were stealing thousands of dollars from Stepko’s Coal Center home.

"It made me upset, because the police officers are supposed to protect the people. He didn’t protect aunt Evelyn,” said Sprowls. "He didn’t protect her one bit. He protected himself because he was greedy, too, for the money."

Both defendants are ordered to pay restitution to Stepko's estate in the amount of $215,820, which the judge said is the total amount stolen from Stepko’s home over the course of two years.

"We got a lot of closure right now, and we’ll go up to the grave and we’ll speak to aunt Evelyn and I think she’ll be happy. She’s with uncle Mike and we’re all going to be happy now," said Sprowls.